Good time to find bass

I received a couple of good bass fishing reports this past week. On Lake Oroville, there has been a good top-water bite throughout the day. Normally this time of year, you can fish top-water baits in low-light conditions, but during the peak daylight hours, you will have to go deep to catch bass. In the past week, the surface bite has continued if you can get away from the heavy boat traffic areas.

This is the season for drawing down lake levels and it has a definite effect on bass behavior. I spoke with Fil at "Oroville Outdoors" and he said that the best bass fishing is in the river arms of the lake. The effect of the river inflows, combined with the lowering of the lake level, is to create a slight current moving down the lake arms. The bass in many cases take up ambush feeding positions on the down river sides of points jutting into the river arms of the lakes.

The pond smelt, forage fish, are scattered throughout the lake in late summer. The bass are picking off these individuals as they drift down the arms. As the lake cools off, the pond smelt will ball up into large schools and the actively feeding bass will be in close proximity to these schools. Look for this schooling activity by October.

On the river below Oroville, there continues to be a slow but steady influx of salmon and steelhead. The numbers are below normal for the calendar date, but fish are being taken on a daily basis. The water temps in the low flow fluctuate from 58 to 63 degrees during the course of a day. Below the outlet hole, the temps are 64 to 68 degrees. Craig Bentley of Huntington's in Oroville caught an 8-pound steelhead at about 5 p.m. Saturday on a "natural roe" colored bead.

Current flows on the Feather are at 4,000 cubic feet per second. There is much speculation about flows during this year's fall salmon and steelhead run amongst the angling community. Lake Oroville is only down about 30 feet from the full pool level of June.

Up in the high country, Lake Almanor is nearly full as are many of the smaller lakes. Historically, the water storage lakes are taken to their lowest levels of the year by December in anticipation of the wet season. Between now and December, there is a lot of water that needs to be moved down the Feather River.

I could not get a response from the Department of Water Resources about releases this fall. But it stands to reason that we will be fishing in high water conditions for fall-run salmon and steelhead this year. This will not be good for those wading, but for those with prop boats it could be very convenient.

Another lake with a top water bass bite is Scotts Flat.

Ed Everhart fished it last week starting on the water after 6 a.m. He had decent action for most of the morning on "Zara Spooks" fished tight up to the bank. The largemouth were in as little as a foot of water early on. The lake is about 30 feet down with most of the brush structure above the water line. There are some brush features still in the water and the bulk of the perch minnows hatched this spring are hiding in these and whatever other cover they can find.

Many bass are holding deep near these feeding spots and they move up to the structure as their appetites dictate. Where there is no brush, the bait is more prone to be centered on broken rock. Early in the day before boat traffic is the prime time to fish. By late morning, the bass move below the 20-foot depth.

In the saltwater, the salmon fishing from the Golden Gate to Bodega Bay remains slow. As soon as this picks up, expect good numbers of salmon in the Sacramento Valley one week to 10 days later. Until then, salmon anglers will have to work hard for their fish.

Another good sign for fall fishing is that the "half-pounder" steelhead, with a few adults mixed in, have been in the lower Klamath River for two weeks. The prime time for this fishery is the month of September. A report from the lower Trinity River last week rated the steelheading as slow.

I will be teaching a steelhead fishing class in conjunction with the Sierra College Community Education in September. For more information refer to the "Kaleidoscope" catalog in your mail or go to www.sccommed.org.

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Denis Peirce writes a weekly fishing column for The Union and is host of "The KNCO Fishing & Outdoor Report," which airs 6-7 p.m. Fridays and 5-6 a.m. Saturdays on 830-AM radio. He may be reached via e-mail at denisp@theunion.com.



For the last three days the number of salmon crossing the Red Bluff Diversion Dam on the Sacramento River have been:

Aug. 27 - 39

Aug. 26 - 54

Aug. 25 - 43